Electric Toy Vehicular Track System

ABSTRACT

The present invention is an electric toy vehicular track system that can be used with electric toy trains or race cars. The tracks comprise flexible, electrically conductive toy vehicular “rails,” which can be conductive wires or strips. The rails are embedded in the upper surface of a flexible mat, which can be disposed in a rolled-out configuration, when the track system is in use, or in a rolled-up cylindrical configuration, for compact storage when not in use. In the rolled-out configuration, the flexible mat lies flat upon a horizontal supporting surface, such as a floor or a tabletop. Upon being rolled out, the track system can be connected to its electric power source, such as a household AC circuit, through one or more power control units.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of electric toyvehicles, such as electric toy trains and slot cars, and the tracks onwhich they run, and more specifically to flexible, stowable electric toyvehicular track systems wherein the tracks form a closed circuit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In this era when digital toys and games have largely replaced theirmechanical and electrical counterparts, electric toy train and race cartracks have remained popular among both children and adults. Often,because they occupy a lot of space, such tracks are set up for holidays,birthdays and other special occasions and then stored away when not inuse. The set up and disassembly of such tracks is a time-consuming jobwhich discourages their more frequent use. Therefore, the presentinvention advantageously provides an electric toy vehicular track systemwhich requires no assembly or disassembly and yet can be stored in acompact format.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is an electric toy vehicular track system that canbe used with electric toy trains or race cars. The tracks compriseflexible, electrically conductive toy vehicular “rails,” which can beconductive wires or strips. The rails are embedded in the upper surfaceof a flexible mat, which can be disposed in a rolled-out configuration,when the track system is in use, or in a rolled-up cylindricalconfiguration, for compact storage when not in use. In the rolled-outconfiguration, the flexible mat lies flat upon a horizontal supportingsurface, such as a floor or a tabletop. Upon being rolled out, the tracksystem can be connected to its electric power source, such as ahousehold AC circuit, through one or more power control units.

A vehicular toy track is defined by a rail set comprising one or more ofthe toy vehicular rails. Most commonly, for electric toy trains and racecars, two rails would constitute a single track. The flexible matcontains one or more toy vehicular tracks, each of which forms aclosed-circuit track path, comprising multiple straight track sectionsand multiple curved track sections.

The electric toy vehicular track system includes one or more electrictoy vehicles, each of which contains at least one electric locomotivemotor. The electric locomotive motor has a variable speed and can be ofany variable speed electric motor type known in the art, but preferablyit is a DC motor, the speed of which controlled by the voltage suppliedto the motor's armature. Each electric toy vehicle is configured toelectrically engage at least one—and typically two—of the toy vehicularrails in the track on which it's running, so that the locomotive motoris electrically connected to an electric power supply through the railsengaged by the toy vehicle.

The electric power supply can comprise DC batteries and/or anAC-supplied DC power converter. The electric power supply is connectableto the toy vehicular rails through a speed control unit comprising oneor more variable resistors that are controllable to vary a supplyvoltage to the electric locomotive motors so as to vary their speed andthus the speed of toy vehicles in which they are installed.

In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, a speed selectorswitch is inserted between the speed control unit and the toy vehicularrails. The purpose of the speed selector switch is to provide fordifferent skill levels in operating the speed control so as to avoidde-railment of the toy vehicles along the curved track sections.Accordingly, the speed selector switch has multiple selector positions,each of which routes the electric power in a different way.

In one of the preferred embodiments, the speed selector switch has a“Beginner Level,” an “Intermediate Level,” an “Advanced Level,” and an“Automatic Level.” In the “Beginner Level” the selector positionconnects the electric power supply to the toy vehicular rails throughthe speed control unit and through one or more primary decelerationresistors, which reduce the supply voltage to the locomotive motors,thereby limiting the motors' speed and the corresponding vehicles' speedon both straight and curved track sections. In the “Intermediate Level,”the selector position connects the electric power supply to the toyvehicle rails in the straight track sections directly through the speedcontrol unit and connects the electric power supply to the rails in thecurved track sections through the speed control unit and through one ormore secondary deceleration resistors. The secondary decelerationresistors reduce the supply voltage to the locomotive motors while thetoy vehicles are engaging the curved track sections, thereby limitingtheir speed on those sections.

In the “Advanced Level,” the selector position connects the electricpower supply to the toy vehicular rails in both the straight and curvedtrack sections directly through the speed control unit, thereby givingthe operator full power control over the vehicle's speed throughout thetrack circuit. In the “Automatic Level,” the selector position directlyconnects the electric power supply to the toy vehicular through thespeed control unit and through one or more tertiary decelerationresistors, which can be separate resistors for the straight tracksections and the curved track sections, and at least one of which can bea variable resistor. This mode allows the toy vehicles to run on thetrack without operator control and without de-railment on the curves.

The foregoing summarizes the general design features of the presentinvention. In the following sections, specific embodiments of thepresent invention will be described in some detail. These specificembodiments are intended to demonstrate the feasibility of implementingthe present invention in accordance with the general design featuresdiscussed above. Therefore, the detailed descriptions of theseembodiments are offered for illustrative and exemplary purposes only,and they are not intended to limit the scope either of the foregoingsummary description or of the claims which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of one embodiment of the present inventionin a rolled-out configuration;

FIG. 1B is a detail perspective view of the electric toy vehicles andthe toy vehicular tracks depicted in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of one embodiment of the present inventionin a rolled-up configuration;

FIGS. 2B and 2C are detail views of the end caps shown in FIG. 2A, asused to store speed control and power supply components;

FIG. 3A is a perspective view of one embodiment of the present inventionin a partially rolled-up configuration;

FIG. 3B is a detail view of the control panel depicted in FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 4B is a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B inFIG. 1A;

FIG. 4C is an exploded detail view of a curved track section accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of the electrical circuit of the speedcontrol unit and the speed selector switch according to one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a detail schematic of the speed selector switch depicted inFIG. 5A; and

FIG. 5C is a detail view of an exemplary control panel for theelectrical circuit depicted in FIG. 5A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 1A and 1B depict an exemplary embodiment of the present invention10 in the rolled-out configuration. In this example, three circuit toyvehicular tracks 11 are shown, consisting of a toy train track 12 andtwo competing toy slot car tracks 13. Cross-sectional views of thesetracks are depicted, respectively, in FIGS. 4B and 4A. Each of the toyvehicular tracks comprises two toy vehicular rails 14, which in thisexample are made of flat-braided tinned copper wire conductor¼-inch-wide and 1/32 inch thick (for horizontal rails) or 1/16 inchthick (for vertical rails).

In the slot car tracks 13, the rails 14 are horizontally embedded in theflexible mat 15, as shown in FIG. 4A, with the slot car “wheels” havingcopper shoes which act as the electrical contacts 16. Between the slotcar rails 14 is a guide slot 17 that conjugately receives a slot carguide pin 18. A conductive wiring harness 19 embedded in the flexiblemat 15 supplies electrical power to the rails 14. In the train track 12,the rails 14 are vertically embedded in the flexible mat, as shown inFIG. 4B, with the train “wheels” and “axle” serving as electricalcontacts 16.

The track mat 15 is made of a flexible material, such as rubber orneoprene, preferably ¼-inch-thick, and capable of being rolled up into atight tubular cylindrical rolled-up form, as shown in FIG. 2A.Optionally, a control panel 20 can be incorporated in a tubular innercore 21 of the mat 15. As shown in FIG. 3A, the tubular core can be2-inch diameter PVC, and can be used for storage of the electric toyvehicles 22 and/or power supply components 23.

FIGS. 2A-2C depict the exemplary embodiment 10 in the rolled-upconfiguration. End caps 24A used to secure the rolled mat can also beused to store power supply components 23 and a speed control unit 24.The power supply 24 comprises rechargeable batteries 25, a USB chargeror a 120-volt AC adapter (not shown).

Detail views of exemplary control panels 20 are shown in FIGS. 3B and5C. For the two slot car tracks 13, separate sections of the controlpanel 20 are dedicated to Track 1 and Track 2, with each section havinga speed control unit 24 and a speed selector switch 26. In this example,the train control section of the control panel has only a speed controlunit 24 and a forward-reverse switch 26A.

An exemplary electric circuit for the slot car tracks 13 is depicted inFIGS. 5A and 5B. The DC current from the power supply 23 is routedthrough a variable-resistor speed control unit 24 into a speed selectorswitch 26. In this example, the speed selector switch 26 consists of arotary, 2-pole, 4-position switch. The #1 switch position corresponds tothe Beginner Level, with 50% power for both the straight track sections27 and the curved track sections 28. The #2 switch position correspondsto the Intermediate Level, with full power for the straight tracksections 27 and 50% power for the curved track sections 28. The #3switch position corresponds to the Advanced Level, with controlled fullpower to both straight 27 and curved 28 track sections. The #4 switchposition corresponds to the Automatic Level, in which the power levelsto straight 27 and curved 28 track sections are independently set by twoseparate 20-ohm variable resistors.

The selector switch 26 pole 1 directs its #1 position through a firstprimary 10-ohm resistor 31 to the straight track sections 27, while pole2 directs its #1 position through a second primary 10-ohm resistor 32 tothe curved track sections 28. Pole 1 of the selector switch 26 directsits #2 position directly to the straight track sections 27, while pole 2directs its #2 position to the curved track sections 28 through asecondary 10-ohm resistor, which in this case is the same as the secondprimary 10-ohm resistor 32. Both pole 1 and pole 2 direct their #3positions directly to both the straight 27 and curved 28 track sections.Pole 1 directs its #4 position to the straight track sections 27 througha first tertiary 20-ohm variable resistor 33, while pole 2 directs its#4 position to curved track sections through a second tertiary 20-ohmvariable resistor 34.

As shown in FIG. 4C, in order to enable differential power to the curvedtrack sections 28, track insulators 35 are inserted between them and thestraight track sections 27.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendisclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that many additions, modifications and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the presentinvention as defined by the accompanying claims.

1. An electric toy vehicular track system, comprising: a flexible matwhich is alternately disposed in a rolled-out configuration or in arolled-up configuration, wherein the flexible mat in the rolled-outconfiguration lies flat upon a substantially horizontal supportingsurface, and wherein the flexible mat in the rolled-up configuration isrolled into a compact, substantially cylindrical shape; multipleflexible electrically conductive toy vehicular rails which are embeddedin an upper surface of the flexible mat, wherein a rail set comprisingone or more of the toy vehicular rails defines a toy vehicular track,and wherein the flexible mat contains one or more toy vehicular tracks,and wherein each toy vehicular track forms a closed circuit track path,comprising multiple straight track sections and multiple curved tracksections; one or more electric toy vehicles, wherein each of theelectric toy vehicles contains one or more electric locomotive motors,each having a speed that is variable, and wherein each electric toyvehicle is configured to electrically engage one or more of the toyvehicular rails in one of the toy vehicular tracks, so that thelocomotive motors are electrically connected to the toy vehicular railsthat are engaged by the electric toy vehicle; and an electric powersupply connected to the toy vehicular rails through a speed controlunit, comprising one or more variable resistors that are controllable tovary a supply voltage to each of the locomotive motors through the oneor more of the toy vehicular rails engaged by the electric toy vehicle,so as to vary the speed of the locomotive motors and a correspondingspeed of the electric toy vehicle.
 2. The electric toy vehicle or tracksystem according to claim 1, further comprising a speed selector switchhaving one or more selector poles and two or more selector positions,wherein at least one of the selector positions connects the electricpower supply to the toy vehicular rails through the speed control unitand through one or more primary deceleration resistors, and wherein theprimary deceleration resistors reduce the supply voltage to each of thelocomotive motors, so as to limit the speed of the locomotive motor andthe corresponding speed of the electric toy vehicle on both the straighttrack sections and the curved track sections.
 3. The electric toyvehicular track system according to claim 2, wherein at least one of theselector positions connects the electric power supply to the toyvehicular rails in the straight track sections directly through thespeed control unit and connects the electric power supply to the toyvehicular rails in the curved track sections through the speed controlunit and through one or more secondary deceleration resistors, andwherein the secondary deceleration resistors reduce the supply voltageto each of locomotive motors while the electric toy vehicle electricallyengages the toy vehicular rails in one of the curved track sections, soas to limit the speed of the locomotive motors and the correspondingspeed of the electric toy vehicles on the curved track sections.
 4. Theelectric toy vehicular track system according to claim 2, wherein atleast one of the selector positions connects the electric power supplyto the toy vehicular rails in both the straight track sections and thecurved track sections directly through the speed control unit.
 5. Theelectric toy vehicular track system according to claim 3, wherein atleast one of the selector positions connects the electric point supplyto the toy vehicular rails in both the straight track sections and thecurved track sections directly through the speed control unit.
 6. Theelectric toy vehicular track system according to claim 2, wherein atleast one of the selector positions directly connects the electric powersupply to the toy vehicular rails through the speed control unit andthrough one or more tertiary deceleration resistors.
 7. The electric toyvehicular track system according to claim 3, wherein at least one of theselector positions directly connects the electric power supply to thetoy vehicular rails through the speed control unit and through one ormore tertiary deceleration resistors.
 8. The electric toy vehiculartrack system according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the selectorpositions directly connects the electric power supply to the toyvehicular rails through the speed control unit and through one or moretertiary deceleration resistors.
 9. The electric toy vehicular tracksystem according to claim 5, wherein at least one of the selectorpositions directly connects the electric power supply to the toyvehicular rails through the speed control unit and through one or moretertiary deceleration resistors.
 10. The electric toy vehicular tracksystem according to claim 6, wherein the tertiary deceleration resistorscomprise two variable resistors, one of which connects to the toyvehicular rails in the straight track sections, and one of whichconnects to the toy vehicular rails in the curved track sections. 11.The electric toy vehicular track system according to claim 7, whereinthe tertiary deceleration resistors comprise two variable resistors, oneof which connects to the toy vehicular rails in the straight tracksections, and one of which connects to the toy vehicular rails in thecurved track sections.
 12. The electric toy vehicular track systemaccording to claim 8, wherein the tertiary deceleration resistorscomprise two variable resistors, one of which connects to the toyvehicular rails in the straight track sections, and one of whichconnects to the toy vehicular rails in the curved track sections. 13.The electric toy vehicular track system according to claim 9, whereinthe tertiary deceleration resistors comprise two variable resistors, oneof which connects to the toy vehicular rails in the straight tracksections, and one of which connects to the toy vehicular rails in thecurved track sections.